British backdrop drawing attention away from Rivers versus Brees

CHANDLER'S CROSS, ENGLAND – If the Saints had played the Chargers almost any other week in the past 2-½ seasons, the game would have been about Drew Brees and Philip Rivers.

Rivers has been the starting quarterback in San Diego since 2006, when Brees played his first game as a Saint after five seasons with the Chargers. And Brees tells it like it is: “In fact, the truth of the matter is, he was kind of brought in to replace me.”

But there is so much other hoopla surrounding the Week 8 matchup. The NFL is set to host a regular-season game in London for the second straight year, and both the Saints and Chargers come into the game with disappointing 3-4 records that desperately need improvement.

So the game that Brees has been waiting for since he signed on with the Saints is about more important things, and Brees is left to keep his excitement to a controlled level, at least publicly.

“I'd be lying if I told you that it was just any other game,” said Brees, who helped beat the Saints 43-17 in the last meeting between New Orleans and San Diego, in 2004. “But certainly I'm not blowing it out of proportion and I'm not trying to put any added pressure on myself or my team. I still know a lot of those players. I'm friends with a lot of those players. But the fact is I knew this day would come, and I'm just looking forward to the opportunity to play against the old team.”

Brees knew his time in San Diego would probably be limited in April 2004, when the Chargers picked Eli Manning with the No. 1 overall selection and traded him to the New York Giants for the No. 4 overall pick, Rivers.

Brees saw Rivers as his replacement, and suddenly, things changed.

Brees saw his passer rating go from 67.5 to a career-high 104.8. His completion percentage went from 57.6 to 65.5, and his yards went from 2,108 to 3,159. Instead of 11 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 11 games, he had 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 15 games.

“I'm going to push myself hard regardless,” Brees said. “I don't need somebody there behind me to do that for me. But any added motivation is good. Obviously, they drafted him very high, fourth pick in the draft, in order to come in and be the future of that franchise. And I wasn't ready for that to happen yet.”

After Rivers arrived, Brees used two more seasons in San Diego to move toward the status of an elite quarterback.

“There's no denying it was somewhat awkward,” Rivers said this week about his arrival, later adding: “We both wanted what the other person was trying to get, and keep it from him. But at the same time we pulled for one another. It may not make sense and I'm not sure any of that necessarily does. That's kind of the way it went in those two years. I tried to be the first person to high-five him after a touchdown. But at the same time I wanted to be out there playing.”